Once upon a time there was a man who had been raised in an alcoholic (drug addicted/dysfunctional/abusive—you fill in the blank) home. It was a fearful environment and he was afraid a lot. He hated those feelings even as a young boy because they made him feel “unmanly.” When he was twelve years old, he [Read More...]

Perhaps I’m just a curmudgeonly old guy now, but it seems to me that people are just not as respectful as they used to be. Much of our culture believes that you do not have any obligation to respect someone unless or until they respect you first. It is a twisted vision of biblical respect. [Read More...]

With all the media coverage of men behaving badly (from Richard Sherman to Justin Bieber), I thought it might be interesting to revisit some of my thoughts on what healthy masculinity looks like. Certainly these aren’t the only things a man should strive for, but they are probably a pretty good starting point. They can [Read More...]

A ton of research shows that children from fatherless homes fare worse in life than their fathered counterparts. And like with most children, fatherless kids tend to imitate the examples that were modeled for them while growing up. Hence, much like addictions, or abuse–abandonment is emulated as well and ends up creating generational cycles that [Read More...]

Courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face uncertainty, difficulty, intimidation, danger, or pain with or without fear. In fact, true courage may be doing something we fear despite our fear. Courage is also generally considered interchangeable with bravery, which is the ability to stand up for what is [Read More...]

If you are like me you are sick of hearing about this topic. But that begs the question: is bullying becoming a bigger problem within our culture, or does the media just sensationalize it because it is the topic du jour? If it is increasing maybe one reason is the constraints that political correctness forces [Read More...]

As a family and parenting advocate I get the pleasure of meeting a wide variety of people who are passionate about improving the lives of families and children. Since I believe that the more people who are exposed to the many excellent programs out there the better it is for everyone, I enjoy partnering with [Read More...]

Perhaps no character trait embodies healthy masculinity more than that of honor (healthy honor—other cultures and religions have forms of honor that may not agree with our version of honor in the West). Honor is the soul of masculinity. It is a code that a man lives by that lifts him above mere mediocrity and [Read More...]